


Caught in the Crossfire

by hmweasley



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Wings, Canonical Character Death, F/F, Minor Cho Chang/Cedric Diggory, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-18 07:21:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,340
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21840433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hmweasley/pseuds/hmweasley
Summary: Daphne does her best to be a "good" Slytherin. She knows Cedric and Susan are both annoying Hufflepuffs who it's better to despise. Unfortunately, they both make that rather difficult, though in somewhat different ways.
Relationships: Cedric Diggory & Daphne Greengrass, Susan Bones & Cedric Diggory, Susan Bones/Daphne Greengrass
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Caught in the Crossfire

Daphne scowled at the Hufflepuff table alongside her fellow Slytherins. Cedric Diggory’s housemates were showering him with praise, but the Slytherins weren’t as keen to shower him with praise. Sure, they all wanted to support Diggory more than they did Potter, who permanently had his head up his own arse, but any excitement they might have felt for him was ruined by his embarrassing performance in the first task.

He had one of his wings out as a couple of the girls in his house fussed over his burn. The charred black feathers stood out against Diggory’s otherwise pearl white wings. Daphne pretended to gag as one girl kissed her fingers and blew the kiss to Diggory’s wing while promising him that it would heal the wound faster.

Diggory’s cheeks were a light pink, but he accepted the kiss all the same. Zabini made a vulgar comment about things that would actually make DIggory feel better, earning himself pats on the back from the boys around him. A few Hufflepuff girls turned to glare at him, but Diggory pretended as if he couldn’t hear anything from the Slytherin table.

All the better, Daphne supposed. He’d embarrassed their school enough. Some of the Durmstrang students weren’t far away. There was no need to make Hogwarts look even worse after such a poor showing.

“At least he’s better than Potter,” Daphne whispered to Pansy, who smirked and nodded conspiratorially.

* * *

Daphne loved autumn almost as much as she hated summer. To her, it always felt like autumn was the shortest of the seasons, so she soaked it up in whatever way that she could. That included studying outdoors until the cold became too much for her.

Fortunately, many of the other students didn’t share her fondness for the crisp weather, so she typically found herself alone on the Hogwarts grounds. Still, there were times were that wasn’t the case.

The Hufflepuffs who claimed a bench not far from her that day were a rowdy bunch. Daphne side-eyed them the moment they appeared, knowing that her study session was about to be interrupted prematurely.

A blonde fifth year whose name Daphne probably should have known tugged a pouch out of his pocket with pride, dangling it in front of the others. They reached for it eagerly, tugging out buttons of some kind. Cedric, who had naturally fallen into the center of the group, took one for himself but eyed it with an unease the others weren’t showing.

Daphne let her book fall to her lap as she watched them. Though she squinted her eyes, she couldn’t make out what the buttons said.

“I don’t like this,” Cedric said slowly.

“Oh, come on, Ced,” the boy urged. “We all know Potter stole your glory for himself. Just this once, we have to show the school what Hufflepuffs are made of.”

“He’s right,” Susan Bones said in a firm voice.

Her golden wings fluttered against her back, making the light autumn light reflect off of them. They were the same shade as many of the leaves Daphne loved so much, and Daphne felt a spark of jealousy that a girl like Bones could have wings like that.

Daphne narrowed her eyes at her. She’d never trusted the Bones girl. Her family was the exact sort of people her family loathed, and the girl had a self-righteous streak that made Daphne want to bang her head into a wall whenever she spoke.

“You should be proud to be representing Hogwarts,” Susan pressed on. “We have every right to support you.”

Everything they’d said so far sounded rather tame even by Hufflepuff standards, which only made Daphne more intent on finding out what the hell the badges said that could have Cedric hesitant. She stood, stowing her books in her bag. A quick walk by would be enough to quell her curiosity and allow her to move on with her life.

“It’s not,” Cedric snapped, his own wings giving a sharp flap against his back that startled the other students. “This kind of thing makes us no better than the Slytherins.”

Daphne froze in the middle of dropping her quill in her bag. Her own wings pressed against her back. Taking a deep breath, she closed her bag and stalked over to the Hufflepuffs.

“What’s got you all high and mighty today, Diggory?” she snapped as she joined them.

The Hufflepuffs eyed her with varying levels of distrust. Only Cedric attempted to give her a smile that she returned with a glare.

She looked at the badge in his hands. “Potter Stinks” was emblazoned across it, but as she watched, the words morphed into “Support Cedric”. She snorted. It was the cheesiest thing she’d ever seen. Of course it was the work of Hufflepuffs. How dare Cedric imply that this was on a Slytherin level.

“Nice badge,” she said with a snort. “Did you make those in arts and crafts?”

The boy who had made the badges glared at her, but it was Susan who stepped in front of her with her hands on her hips.

“What do you want, Greengrass?”

Daphne shrugged and crossed her arms against her chest as if bored.

“I only wanted to see what you lot had that was as bad as Slytherins, but I must say, I’m very disappointed. This is too cruel for you, Diggory? Five-year-olds could come up with better insults.”

The still-unnamed blond boy clenched his fist, his dull silver wings tapping against his back. Cedric put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down.

“I’m sorry,” Cedric told Daphne. “I didn’t mean to insult your house.”

He sounded genuinely regretful, and it threw Daphne off enough that she couldn’t immediately come up with a response.

“Whatever,” she said, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “I’ll say yes to anything that insults Potter. Give me one of those.”

Susan handed her one with a raised eyebrow. Their hands brushed, and Daphne’s wings gave an involuntary flap at the contact. She kept her eyes down as she fastened the badge onto her robes.

As she left, she tossed a half-hearted wave over her shoulder.

The last words she heard from the group came from the blond boy: “I can’t believe a Slytherin is wearing one of my badges.”

* * *

Intense muttering made Daphne pause midstep. She peeked around the corner to find Diggory pacing and talking to himself. His blond hair was unkempt from being tugged at, and his wings fluttered against his back in agitation.

“Something the matter, Diggory?” Daphne asked as she stepped forward to reveal herself.

Diggory’s eyes widened as if he was surprised that someone would stumble upon him in a well-travelled corridor, even if it was a little late at night.

“It’s nothing,” he said, his eyes flicking around as he spoke.

Daphne snorted and leaned against the nearest wall with her arms crossed against her chest.

“It sure doesn’t seem like nothing,” she said. “That was some intense pacing you were doing there.”

Cedric sighed as his wings gave a particularly sharp tap against his back. Daphne felt the slight wind burst of wind they created, and it only made her smirk widen.

“The dragon egg had a clue,” he admitted. “When you hold it underwater, it recites a riddle.”

He repeated the riddle for her, struggling in places where he couldn’t quite remember the words. Daphne listened intently. No matter how little she cared about helping Diggory, the idea of a riddle that held the answer to the next task intrigued her.

Diggory had taken to pacing again, moving closer and then farther from Daphne as he went.

“It’s merpeople, isn’t it?” Daphne replied as soon as he finished.

Diggory froze and turned to her with wide eyes. Daphne shrugged.

“‘We cannot sing above the ground’,” she repeated. “The egg couldn’t either. You only heard the riddle when it was underwater, so whatever you’re facing must be underwater too. The only beings in the lake—where I’m assuming you’re being sent—who can talk are the merpeople. It’s not as if it’s that difficult, Diggory.”

Diggory blinked at her several times. It was taking him far too long to process a simple concept. Daphne pushed off the wall with a roll of her eyes.

“Can you swim?” she asked, pointing at his wings. “I’ve heard it takes even stronger wings than flying does.”

Diggory glanced over his shoulder as if he’d forgotten his wings were there. Maybe he had. Others didn’t think about their wings constantly the way Daphne did. For many, they were such a natural extension of who they were that they forgot them like Daphne forgot her own feet until they hurt. She never forgot her wings though.

“I can swim,” Diggory replied, but it had a bite to it that reeked of defensiveness.

Daphne’s smirk only grew.

“I’m not the only flyer competing,” he pointed out, almost to himself. “Potter and Krum are both faster flyers than I am. Hell, Krum’s a professional Quidditch player. I won’t be at any worse of a disadvantage than them at least.”

Daphne shrugged.

“Maybe not,” she allowed. “Krum isn’t the most graceful off his broom. That could easily transfer to the water. Delacour might be the one who surprises you though. She has rather small wings. I’ve heard that can help in the water.”

Cedric’s face went from slightly confident to distraught, and Daphne bit back a smirk. She hit him on the shoulder to knock him back to the present.

“Don’t get stuck in your own head, Diggory. What good will that do? You’re good at Charms, right? Surely a promising student like yourself can charm your way out of this too.”

Cedric tilted his head as if he couldn’t decide if she was giving him genuine advice or mocking him. Truthfully, Daphne didn’t know which she was doing either. At some point, she’d gotten caught up in the idea of solving a riddle and hadn’t stopped to consider why she was helping. Coming back to herself, she began to back away from Cedric down the corridor.

“I think you’re on your own from here,” she said with a slight wave of her hand.

She disappeared before Cedric could say another word.

* * *

It was easy enough to block out the chatter of the Yule Ball as it approached. Her friends were so concerned about finding their own dates that they didn’t pay attention to Daphne’s lack of one.

Other than Pansy saying, “I really can’t believe you’re not going,” as she got dressed in their dorm, no one paid much attention to the fact that Daphne wouldn’t be attending.

As the last of the older students filtered out of the room, she felt strangely like she had dodged a bullet by not having anyone ask her on a date.

For half an hour, she sat in her dorm, determined to have a lazy night away from the madness, but before long, she felt restless. Despite her lack of desire to attend the ball, she was a little curious about what the others were doing there. All she had to do was walk for a few minutes and she’d be able to peek inside and see how it was going.

Even as she pulled her shoes on, she wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. The younger students, who had been forbidden from leaving the common room for the night, eyed her with jealousy as she left even though she hadn’t donned any fancy robes like the other students.

No one was out and about in the dungeons, but she heard the noise from the Great Hall long before she made it to the ground floor.

Her eyes darted around the entrance hall as she emerged. Though she technically wasn’t breaking any rules, she felt like she was going to be scolded for not attending the ball if a teacher discovered her.

Filch hovered outside the door of the Great Hall, but though he eyed her usual Hogwarts robes distrustfully, he didn’t say anything to her. Daphne hovered near the door she’d come through. A logical part of her brain knew that traveling to the upper floors of the castle was safer if she didn’t want annoying comments about her lack of dress robes or a date, but she was embarrassingly enchanted with the Great Hall.

Not because she regretted not having a date herself but because she wanted to know how her friends were faring with their own dates, some of which Daphne had been rather sceptical about from the start.

She hurried past the doors of the Great Hall without glancing inside, not wanting to garner any unwanted attention. She hurried to the large staircase, keeping her head down in case Filch suddenly found it in himself to shout at her.

Her breathing evened out once she was at the top, but a few steps down the corridor, she froze in place.

Susan Bones leant against the wall, staring out a window. Daphne paused, taking in the way the moonlight reflected off her gold wings. They were made even more mesmerizing than usual by the gold dress robes Susan had on. The wings faded into them as if they were one and the same. 

Determined not to engage with the Hufflepuff, Daphne started ambling backwards on her tiptoes, but it was too late. Her movement caught Susan’s attention. She twirled around to stare right at Daphne, eyeing her robes with confusion. Daphne shifted and stared back defiantly, daring the other girl to mock her for her choice of attire.

She didn’t. Instead, she smiled and tilted her head to the side. Her voice was curious but friendly as she spoke.

“Hello. I wasn’t expecting anyone to find me out here with all of the fun they’re having in the hall.”

Daphne debated a few confrontational responses before she settled on, “Where’s your date?”

Susan snorted and turned her face back towards the window, though her body remained angled towards Daphne. It blocked most of Daphne’s view of her wings, for which Daphne was grateful. It was much easier to focus when she couldn’t see the dazzling gold feathers. Her own small, black wings pressed against her back.

“Ernie and I went as friends, and I think we both lost interest.”

Daphne blinked a few times before she realized it was an answer to her question. She felt a momentary wave of annoyance with Ernie MacMillan He wasn’t even all that great. Of course Susan would have gotten bored. She snorted in amusement, but before she could speak, there was some commotion at the top of the stairs.

This time, it was a couple, and they weren’t trying to be quiet. Daphne watched in horror as Cedric Diggory and Cho Chang threw themselves around the corner. Cedric pushed Cho against the wall, his hands finding her hips. Cho ran her hands across his chest.

Daphne’s wings vibrated against her back before she pushed them together, and she desperately hoped Susan had been too preoccupied with staring at the couple to notice her reaction.

Cedric’s wings spread and came around to partially block him and Cho from view. Though Cho’s hands continued moving, neither Daphne nor Susan could see exactly what was happening anymore. Which was probably for the best.

Susan cleared her throat loudly twice before the older students paused. Cho jumped, her face turning a bright red that was visible even in the dim moonlit corridor. With a gasp, she pressed her face into Cedric’s chest. His wings wrapped tighter around her body, further blocking the other girls’ view of her.

Their chests rising and falling was visible even from where Daphne was standing.

She sneered at them.

“No one wants to see you taking your clothes off in the corridors, Diggory. Have some respect.”

Though Cho was visibly embarrassed, Cedric seemed too confused by their presence to have put any thought into the position he was currently in. He watched them with a detached expression. When he finally glanced at Daphne’s robes, she crossed her arms against her chest.

“Why aren’t you dressed up?” he asked.

Daphne scoffed.

“Not all of us girls fawn over the idea of pretty dresses and being escorted by stupid boys to dances where we have to pretend to be interested in what they’re saying for hours, Diggory.”

He blinked at her as if he didn’t understand what she was saying. Maybe he didn’t. He was one of the stupid boys she’d referenced after all, not that he’d recognize himself as such.

“We’re sorry,” Cho said, pulling away from Cedric’s embrace enough to step out from between his wings.

The rare midnight blue of her wings contrasted with the light pink dress robes she’d chosen. She was absolutely gorgeous; Daphne couldn’t fault Diggory for being taken with her at least.

“It’s all right,” Susan responded with a kind smile at Cho.

She took a few steps to stand at Daphne’s side. Her wings gave a flutter, and Daphne shivered as the wind they created hit her skin. She pressed her crossed arms tighter against her stomach.

This wasn’t what she’d left the dungeons for.

“Susan?” Cedric questioned as if he still couldn’t believe he was facing her of all people.

Susan raised an eyebrow at him.

“Ernie was looking for you in the Great Hall,” Cedric finished lamely.

Susan hummed in response, but she didn’t appear particularly concerned about finding her date. Cedric looked between the two of them, his brow furrowed. Daphne felt like she was being analyzed in the same way her mother always did when she came home from school, making sure that Daphne hadn’t done anything to scare off the proper pureblood boys she was expected to marry.

Cho was more polite. She offered them a small smile as she took Cedric’s hand.

“We should be heading back,” she said. “People will be wondering where their champion has wandered off to.”

Her smile widened as she looked at Cedric. She placed a hand against his cheek. He smiled back, becoming lost in her momentarily, yet he still tossed an amused look over his shoulder at the other girls as they left.

Susan sighed as soon as they were out of sight. Overwhelmed, Daphne stumbled back a few steps to remove herself from Susan’s bubble.

“You should get back too,” Daphne replied, her voice sharp. “It’s not proper to keep your date waiting on you.”

She stared at the bright full moon outside, but from the corner of her eye, she saw Susan hesitate.

“You might be right,” she said quietly. “Ernie’s a nice friend. I wouldn’t want to upset him.”

Still, she hesitated a moment longer before leaving without a word.

Daphne collapsed against the window sill, feeling a bit like she’d run a marathon though she wasn’t sure why.

* * *

Cedric’s performance in the second task was laughable. Daphne had expected more from him, not that she’d ever tell him as much.

The next time she saw him in the corridor, she couldn’t help but smirk.

“Great job, Diggory.”

He paused midstep. Thankfully, he was alone. As much as Daphne loved taking him down a peg, his friends throwing fits on his behalf was more than she wanted to deal with. Cedric didn’t look as angry as his friends would have. Instead, he cocked an eyebrow at Daphne as if he didn’t know what to make of her.

“Are you always so rude to people?” he asked.

Daphne, thrown off guard, crossed her arms against her chest.

“Only to people who deserve it,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

Cedric readjusted his bag strap over his shoulder with a sigh.

“Doesn’t being mean all the time seem like a difficult way to make friends. Surely you know how to actually be nice to people.”

“I have friends,” Daphne shot back. “We don’t all have to be worshipped by idiots to have friends.”

Cedric nodded, but that wasn’t enough to lessen Daphne’s irritation.

“Why would you think I don’t have friends?”

“Slytherins have weird friendships,” he said slowly. “With you lot, it’s all about connections and stuff. To be honest, I’m not sure if any of you has real friends.”

Daphne sucked in a sharp breath. For a moment, all she could do was stare at the older boy. It wasn’t as if she was unaware that Slytherin friendships were often different from those in the other houses, but she’d never heard it put so bluntly.

“We do things our own way,” she said. “It shouldn’t matter to you.”

Cedric shook his head.

“It doesn’t. It’s only that I know Susan well, and she has some kind of...connection with you that I don’t understand. But you’re mean to her.”

“Connection?” Daphne spat back. “What in Merlin’s name are you on about?”

Cedric shrugged again.

“I don’t know. It’s weird to me too, but I’ve seen the two of you together, and I think you like her too. It would be nice if you were nice to her for once. It could do a lot of good for both of you.”

Daphne spluttered at him.

She wanted to say something about him not knowing her. She wanted to tell him he was naive about the way the world worked. She wanted to tell him that she’d never consider a Hufflepuff a friend. 

Instead, all she got out was, “Get your head out of your arse. Don’t interfere in other peoples’ lives. I’ll do what I want, thanks.”

She stalked off without glancing back.

* * *

Daphne noticed the moment Susan entered the library, but she kept her eyes on her book. Her quill was poised over her parchment as if she were about to write, but her mind was too preoccupied to remember the words she needed. Instead, she tracked Susan’s movements through the shelves of books as she weaved in and out of proximity to Daphne.

She finally emerged from the shelves with three books in her arms. Daphne forced herself to write ‘and’ on her parchment, though she couldn’t remember what train of thought she was trying to continue.

Susan paused in front of Daphne’s table, and Daphne stared intently at the drying ink.

“Do you mind?” Susan asked, using the books she held to gesture at the empty chair across from Daphne. “Every table is taken.”

Daphne glanced around and saw that was true, though plenty of other tables had empty chairs just like hers did. She should have pointed that out, especially after what Cedric had said the other day, but she found herself nodding instead.

She flipped a page in her own book as Susan settled in across from her, though she had never finished reading the previous page. A second later, she cursed herself and flipped back to the previous page to continue paraphrasing a key passage.

Her eyes flickered to Susan as the Hufflepuff leaned over a thick Transfiguration tome. Her golden wings twitched, the light reflecting off of them and catching Daphne’s eyes. She did her best to focus, especially as Susan’s own quill scratched furiously against her parchment, but the light kept catching Susan’s wings whenever they moved, which was frequently.

Daphne felt her frustration growing. She clenched her left fist in her lap to avoid snapping the quill that was in her right. Her Charms essay was due the next day; she didn’t have time for any distractions.

“Can you stop moving your wings?” Daphne snapped before her embarrassment could stop her.

Susan stopped writing and looked at Daphne with a bemused expression. Her wings flapped several times now that she was aware of them.

“Sorry,” she said, though she didn’t sound particularly sorry. “It’s a habit I have. I didn’t realize I was doing it.”

“Yeah, well, it’s distracting,” Daphne muttered, her eyes back on her book.

She placed a period only to realize she hadn’t been finished with that sentence. She cursed inwardly as she grabbed her wand and vanished the offending mark.

She felt Susan’s eyes on her and looked back up with a raised eyebrow.

“Why do you keep your wings bunched up all the time?” Susan asked once she had Daphne’s attention.

Daphne blinked. It struck her as a rude question. That was just one thing you didn’t ask about another’s appearance, but Susan seemed to think of the question as she stared innocently back at her.

“Mine are always irritating me if I keep them folded up,” she continued. “I have to stretch them, but I’ve never seen yours out. Don’t they get sore?”

Unsure how to answer in a way that didn’t reveal her insecurities, Daphne shrugged.

“I guess not all of us want to show off,” she muttered.

Susan was quiet for a moment as she considered that, tapping the feather end of her quill against her chin.

“You should,” she said finally. “Show them off, I mean. You have gorgeous wings.”

Daphne blushed even as her eyes narrowed in suspicion. No one had ever cared for her wings before. They were a dull black that could almost have been a grey, not even a striking jet black. They were small, and her feathers were sparse.

“I mean it,” Susan pushed on, sensing that Daphne didn’t believe her. “You have some of the most gorgeous wings I’ve ever seen.”

Daphne snorted.

“Whatever, Bones. Just let me do my homework, yeah?”

Susan frowned but nodded and went back to her essay.

Daphne felt a pang of sadness over the end of the conversation, and she wasn’t able to concentrate any better than she had been before. Within minutes she was packing up her bag to go study in the common room. 

Susan watched her go, still frowning but without saying a word.

* * *

The third Triwizard task came. Harry Potter returned with the cup and a dead body. People screamed. Daphne kept only the smallest snippets of memories of the aftermath. Everything had been chaotic. So much had happened, yet so little of it was retained.

Hogwarts was different afterward. Though it looked just the same, the corridors felt darker. Even the resident ghosts floated through the air at a slower pace. Students avoided the corridors, whether out of fear or an overwhelming sense of grief that kept them holed up in their dormitories. Even the Durmstrang and Beauxbatons students didn’t know what to do with themselves.

Daphne didn’t know what to do with herself either. Cedric had never been her friend. The handful of interactions they’d shared had been more conflict than anything else. If you’d asked her before his death, Daphne would have described him as infuriating, a boy who tried to appear humble but definitely had his head up his arse.

She still wasn’t sure she was wrong, but it felt less significant once he was dead. Because even if he had been arrogant, he’d also been nice, all things considered, and she felt sad that he was dead. She wondered if she would treat him differently if he were suddenly resurrected somehow.

While the whole school mourned, Daphne did her best to appear unaffected. The other Slytherins were mostly somber, but none would admit to being particularly sad. Some clearly didn’t care at all. Daphne didn’t feel that she had a right to mourn in the way the Hufflepuffs or Cho Chang were, so she kept her feelings to herself.

She began taking long walks around the castle alone. It was peaceful, with all of the other students holed up in their dormitories, and it meant she could avoid the handful of Slytherins who were visibly overjoyed with Potter’s assertions that Voldemort had returned.

Rarely on her walks did she see anyone else, but one day, muffled sniffling made her pause.

She inched forward, sneaking a peek around the corner to find Susan perched on a window ledge. Daphne debated with herself for a moment. It would be easy to tiptoe away without being spotted. That was the easier method, but Susan was too compelling. Her usually sparkling wings were duller in the shadows of the corridor. They wrapped around her like a hug, obscuring most of her body from view. But Daphne saw how red-rimmed her eyes were, even from a distance.

Susan didn’t notice her approach until she was several steps away. She stiffened, tear tracks staining her cheeks, as Daphne sat down beside her, producing a handkerchief at the same moment. Susan stared at the cloth for a second before taking it hesitantly, dabbing at her eyes with the smallest of corners.

“I know you liked him,” Daphne said, her voice cracking.

It had been days since she’d had a real conversation with anyone. There was just nothing to talk about anymore.

“Of course,” Susan said with a wet laugh. “Everyone did. He was a great guy. One of the best. He was absolutely wonderful.”

Daphne nodded. The force in Susan’s words left no room for argument, and Daphne was having a harder and harder time believing differently anyway.

“I’m sorry he didn’t like you back,” she said.

Susan’s brow furrowed. Her wings slipped a bit from around her shoulders, no longer guarding her from the world like they had been.

“What?” she asked.

“Cedric,” Daphne said. “I know you had a crush on him. I’m sorry he liked Cho instead of you.”

Susan stared at her blankly, and Daphne shifted. It wasn’t like she could blame Susan for her infatuation. Most of the girls at Hogwarts would happily have dated Cedric, and she’d seen how happy Susan had looked around him. It made sense.

When Susan spoke, it was with slow and deliberate words, as if she was still working out what Daphne was accusing her of.

“Cedric and I were just friends. I never liked him like that.”

Daphne’s eyes widened before narrowing in a frown. That didn’t fit with what she had seen.

Susan sensed her continued confusion and laughed.

“I’m gay,” she said, averting her eyes.

Her wings once again came around to cover her arms.

“Cedric was one of the only people who knew,” she continued. “He caught me kissing a girl once, and I was terrified. I thought he was going to out me to everyone, but he didn’t. He kept it a secret, but he was very kind to me after that. He always told me he’d support me if I came out. He was one of the only people who knew, so I could tell him things I couldn’t tell anyone else, like about the girls I liked and stuff. He always listened.”

Daphne’s brain struggled to process the new information. She thought back to the conversation she’d had with Cedric about Susan, how he had insisted that they had a connection. Part of Daphne had wondered if that was because her own feelings had been obvious.

Sitting next to Susan, staring into the other girls sparkling eyes, Daphne felt stupid.

“I’ve liked you for more than a year,” she blurted out before she could stop herself. “You’re incredibly frustrating sometimes, and I know I shouldn’t like a Hufflepuff. But you’re kind of fascinating, and you’re absolutely gorgeous. Your wings shine more than anyone’s I’ve ever seen, and it’s damn near impossible not to stare at you all the time.”

Her cheeks were warm as she stared directly at Susan. Susan stared back, her lips parted slightly in a way that was far too distracting when Daphne was trying to focus on how she would respond to the confession.

Susan laughed, raising her hand to wipe the last of her tears away.

“Can I kiss you?” she asked.

Daphne nodded eagerly.

The second their lips touched, Daphne gasped. It was all encompassing. For that moment, at least, Daphne didn’t think about Cedric or the war that might be brewing outside the castle walls. None of that was as immediate as Susan’s mouth against hers. For a moment, they could allow themselves that.


End file.
